LGBTと
アライのための
法律家ネットワーク
Mission

EQUALITY FOR ALL

Lawyers for LGBT & Allies Network

The purpose of this legal entity shall be, by providing in particular legal assistance to promote the understanding of LGBT and other sexual minorities and to eliminate discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, to contribute to the realization of a fair society where all people may realize their full potential in safety and where due consideration shall be given to individual dignity and diversity.



Japan LGBT update

Board Members of Lawyers for LGBT & Allies Network

Representatives
  • Fujita Naosuke

    Naosuke Fujita is a Co-Representative Director and one of the co-founders of LLAN. Naosuke is a graduate of Waseda University Department of Law and University of Michigan Law School LLM. Naosuke founded LLAN following the coming out of his colleague at work during his time as General Counsel for Goldman Sachs Japan Co., Ltd. (March 2009 to December 2019). In June 2017 Naosuke was awarded by Financial Times the Most Innovative General Counsel Award in connection with activities related to LLAN. Naosuke is the editor and author of LLAN's "Guide to Creating an LGBT Friendly Workplace", an introductory guide designed to help Japanese corporations take their first step in creating an LGBTQ friendly workplace.
  • Alexander Dmitrenko

    Alexander Dmitrenko is a Co-Representative Director and one of the co-founders of LLAN. He is a partner at Ashurst (Tokyo) focusing on compliance issues and dispute resolution matters. Alexander began his legal career in Canada, including working on same-sex marriage and other LGBT rights cases. He also worked at major international law firms in NYC.. Alexander is qualified to practice law in New York State and England & Wales and is gaiben in Japan. He is also the Chairman of the Board of TELL (Tokyo English Life Line) NPO, Chair of the Asia Advisory Committee of Temple Law School’s Center for Compliance and Ethics, and Tourist Ambassador for the beautiful island of Hachijojima.
Directors
  • Umino Kaoru

    Kaoru Umino is one of the directors of LLAN. She is a graduate of Bowdoin College and obtained a J.D. from Columbia Law School. Kaoru joined DLA Piper after having worked at a U.S. law firm in New York and international law firms in Japan. She is admitted to practice in New York. Kaoru is the Pro Bono coordinator for DLA Piper’s Tokyo Office.
  • Umezu Ryu

    Ryu Umezu is one of the directors of LLAN. He is a graduate of University of Tokyo, Faculty of Law. He was admitted to practice law in Japan in 1991 and joined Anderson Mori. He has been a managing partner of Anderson Mori & Tomotsune since April 2023.
  • Oshima Yoko

    Yoko Oshima is one of the directors of LLAN. She is a graduate of Hitotsubashi University, University of Tokyo Law and Politics Graduate School and Harvard Law School LL.M. After having worked at a Japanese law firm in Tokyo, a U.S. law firm in New York and General Electric group in Tokyo and Connecticut, US, she currently serves as Assistant General Counsel, Head of Corporate, External and Legal Affairs of Microsoft Japan Co., Ltd. She is admitted to practice in New York and Japan.
  • Kawano Ayako

    Ayako Kawano is one of the directors of LLAN. She is a graduate of Osaka University, Faculty of Law and Harvard Law School LLM. She was admitted to practice law in Japan in 1993. She was selected as an award winner of Chambers Asia Pacific, Diversity & Inclusion Awards, “LGBT+ Lawyer of the Year,” in 2020. She has been a shareholder of Greenberg Traurig since January 2024.
  • Jon Gray

    Jon Gray is one of the co-founders and directors of LLAN and also on the board of directors of Run for the Cure® foundation. Jon is a graduate of Williams College in 1990, and obtained a J.D. from Columbia Law School in 1997. He was admitted to practice law in New York in 1998 and is a foreign registered lawyer of the Tokyo Dai-ni Bar Association. He worked at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP (October 1997 – August 2005), Linklaters LLP (September 2005 – September 2015). Since October 2015 he has been a resident partner of Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP in Tokyo.
  • Sasaki Kozo

    Kozo Sasaki is one of the co-founders and directors of LLAN. Kozo is a graduate of Waseda University, Faculty of Law and Columbia Law School LLM. He was admitted to practice law in Japan in 1998.
  • Sugano Yuri

    Yuri Sugano is one of the directors of LLAN. She is a graduate of Kyoto University, Faculty of Law and LLM of New York University School of Law. She was admitted to practice law in Japan in 2003. She is a partner of Nishimura & Asahi.
  • Sugimoto Fumihide

    Fumihide Sugimoto is one of the directors of LLAN. Fumihide is a graduate of Waseda University Department of Law and Columbia Law School LLM. He was admitted to practice law in Japan in 1989 and joined Tsunematsu Yanase & Sekine (currently Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu). He became a partner of Tsunematsu Yanase & Sekine in January 1996 and he has been one of the co-managing partners of Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu since January 2015.
  • Takayama Yasushi

    Yasushi Takayama is one of the directors of LLAN. He is a graduate of University of Tokyo, Faculty of Law, and received his LL.M. degree from Cornell Law School. He was admitted to the New York Bar in 1994. He joined Nomura Securities Co., Ltd. in March 1988 and was Senior Managing Director and Chief Legal Officer of Nomura Holdings., Inc. and Nomura Securities Co., Ltd. from April 2015 to March 2019. Since April 2019, he is one of the Audit & Supervisory Board Members (Kansa-yaku) of Nomura Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. and since June 2019 he is also Director and Audit & Supervisory Committee Member of Nomura Real Estate Holdings, Inc.
  • Takeno Yasuzo

    Yasuzo Takeno is one of the directors of LLAN. He is a graduate of Waseda University and University of Oxford (M. Writt.). He was admitted to Bar in Japan in 1987. He joined Hamada & Matsumoto (which is a predecessor of Mori Hamada & Matsumoto created in 2002) in 1987, seconded to its London office in 1989. He is a partner of Mori Hamada & Matsumoto.
  • Tsurumi Koji

    Koji Tsurumi is one of the directors of LLAN. He is a graduate of Keio University and the University of Chicago Law School LLM. He started his career as a public prosecutor in Japan in 1998 and admitted to practice law in New York in 2005. After working at a Japanese law firm and General Electric Corporate and Healthcare, he joined Johnson & Johnson in 2015 and following the company split in August 2023, currently serves as Vice President Law of Kenvue Asia Pacific.
  • Nakao Takeshi

    Nakao Takeshi is one of the directors of LLAN. He was educated at the University of Tokyo (LLB, 1996) and New York University (LL.M, 2004). Admitted as a Japanese bengoshi in 1999, Takeshi is a member of the Dai-ni Tokyo Bar Association and the New York Bar. He was admitted in 2005 in the State of New York. After having worked at a domestic law firm, Takeshi joined Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in 2001 and has been a partner since 2008, currently serving as the managing partner of Freshfields Tokyo office and the Head of Japan Practice of Freshfields. Takeshi is a lecturer at Hitotsubashi University School of Law, where he teaches on world business law, and a member of the Foreign Lawyers and International Legal Practice Committee of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations.
  • Peter Frost

    Peter Frost is a director of LLAN. Peter is a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales and a foreign registered lawyer of the Tokyo Dai-ni Bar Association. Peter started his career at Wilde Sapte and joined Linklaters in 1999. Peter has been a member of the Linklaters Tokyo office since 2000 and became the managing partner of the Linklaters Tokyo office in 2020.
  • Beppu Rika

    Rika Beppu is a director of LLAN. After graduating from Sophia University's Faculty of Foreign Languages and Studies, English Language Department, Rika studied and trained in the United Kingdom and obtained her qualification as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales in 1994. Upon her return to Japan in 2001, she was the founding managing partner of an international law firm's Tokyo office, and subsequently a Corporate M&A partner at her former firm since 2008. As from October 2017, Rika is a Corporate M&A partner at Squire Patton Boggs in Tokyo. Rika is a foreign registered lawyer (English law) of the Tokyo Dai-ni Bar Association since 2001. She is the former chair of the European Business Council, Legal Affairs Committee as well as a founding member and former president of Women in Law Japan.
  • Jean-Denis Marx

    Jean-Denis Marx is a director of LLAN. After graduating from École Superieure de Commerce de Paris, Jean-Denis was admitted to the Paris Bar in 1992 and became a Foreign Registered Lawyer (gaikokuho jimu bengoshi) in Japan in 2000. He worked at Coudert Frères in Paris from 1990 to 1993 and Koyo Seiko (now Jtekt Corporation) in Japan from 1989 to 1990. He joined Baker & McKenzie in 1994, where he became a Corporate M&A partner in 2002. He joined Tokyo International Law Office in 2024 as a partner.
  • Mori Michihiro

    Michihiro Mori is one of the directors of LLAN. Michihiro is a graduate of University of Tokyo, Faculty of Law and Harvard Law School LLM. He was appointed as a judge of Tokyo District Court in 1995. He also served as a staff attorney at the Civil Affairs Bureau of the General Secretariat of the Supreme Court during his career as a judge. He was with Nishimura & Asahi from 2005 to March 2019, and since April 2019 is the representative of AI-EI Law Firm.
  • Daniel P. Levison

    Daniel Levison is a director of LLAN. He is currently of the head of the litigation practice in Morrison & Foerster’s Singapore office. Prior to moving to Singapore in 2013, Daniel practiced in Morrison & Foerster’s Tokyo office for over 12 years. Daniel is also a member of the firm’s global Diversity Strategy Committee, through which he actively supports efforts to promote diversity and inclusion in the legal profession and the community. Daniel is also active in pro bono efforts througout the region. Daniel has degrees from Cornell University, the London School of Economics and Political Science and the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, and is admitted to the New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania bars.
Auditor
  • Motoyasu Fujita

    Motoyasu Fujita is the auditor of LLAN. Motoyasu is a graduate of Sophia University, Faculty of Law and Duke University Law School LLM. He was admitted to practice law in Japan in 2001, and joined Mitsui, Yasuda, Wani & Maeda. He joined Linklaters Tokyo in 2005, and has been a partner since 2014.
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